In January I am taking my first Royal Caribbean cruise on Liberty of the Seas, after previously taking 5 Carnival cruises. I decided it was time to spend a little more to see if cruising is different with RCI. My first cruise with Carnival was in January 2005 and at that time dress in the dining room did seem to be still dressy. My last Carnival cruise was in January 2012 and it seemed like they let anyone in no matter what they were dressed in.

My question is, what can I expect with Royal Caribbean? I am definitely not a suit and tie type of guy but have no problem putting on a pair of dress pants and dress shirt. Is dress pants and dress shirt too casual on RCI?

I've done lots of cruises with RCI, and even on formal nights a dress shirt and slacks will be good in the main dining room. This is especially true on the shorter Caribbean cruises Liberty does. On casual nights I usually wear dockers and a golf shirt. The Windjammer buffet is also there for casual dinner every night and they really do put out a high quality spread.

I am going on the Liberty Of The Seas for two back-to-back cruises starting December 3 and don't plan on bringing anything more formal than a sport coat - and I'm only bringing that in case I need it for something unpredictable like a dinner invitation.

I'm back on Liberty in mid-January for the chartered Rock Legends cruise. Those are even better since there is no suggested dress and t-shirts and shorts are worn all the time!

We've also been on the Liberty as well as many other RCCL ships and as with Dave, I wear dockers and golf shirts most of the time. On formal night, I'll wear a tie, but usually don't take a jacket. First, it's too heavy in the suitcase, but when I do take one, I almost always end up taking it off because I get too hot. And since I hate wearing a suit, if I do have to take one because of a special dinner arrangement, I'm only in it for a couple of hours. Just doesn't make since for me to take one, but it's what makes you feel comfortable that's important.

You'll see a bit of everything, so you can feel comfortable with a jacket and tie, jacket with no tie, or tie with no jacket.

This is a 5 day cruise. We will be visiting Labadee and Falmouth. I'm excited to be trying RCI after 5 CCL cruises. Glad to hear some good words concerning Labadee but probably will enjoy the ship with less people on it when we get to Falmouth. The price of this cruise was too good to turn down.

Pete,
Thatís second not first. When doing a short Caribbean the clothes are light. If you are approaching the 50# limit, you are bringing to many other clothes. Lots of cruisers say a tux or suit loads up the suitcase, then I read further and they are doing a short cruise in a warm climate. If you do not want to bring clothes for formal night, just say so and don't make excuses.

Just got off the Liberty last week on a TA and most wore suits or tux.

O F C'er

__________________Experiences over the years enabled me to have all the answers, but not necessarily corresponding with your questions.

We just returned from back-to-back cruises on the Jewel of the Seas. On the first (7-night) cruise we had two formal nights. There were a surprising number of men in tuxedos, and it seemed most of the rest were in suits. On the second (14-night) cruise it seemed to me that a LOT of men had on a tux - a higher percentage than on the previous cruise.

Personally, I don't mind dressing up for formal nights (although 3 formal nights in 14 days is a bit much). I always bring my tuxedo. To me it's just a suit with a thing around my waist to keep my stomach in.....

I have no problem with guys who don't wear a suit or tux to the dining room, but it really frosts me when I see someone coming in to the dining room in jeans, wearing a baseball cap.

As long as Royal Caribbean has a "suggested" dress code, you will see everything.

Two formal nights are standard on seven-night cruises; one formal night is the norm on shorter sailings. Men are encouraged to wear tuxedos, but dark suits or sport coats and ties are more prevalent. All other evenings are casual, although jeans are discouraged in restaurants. It's requested that no shorts be worn in public areas after 6 pm, although there are passengers who can't wait to change into them after dinner.

Pete,
Thatís second not first. When doing a short Caribbean the clothes are light. If you are approaching the 50# limit, you are bringing to many other clothes. Lots of cruisers say a tux or suit loads up the suitcase, then I read further and they are doing a short cruise in a warm climate. If you do not want to bring clothes for formal night, just say so and don't make excuses.

Just got off the Liberty last week on a TA and most wore suits or tux.

O F C'er

But if we're doing a shorter cruise, we only bring one suitcase. We travel as light as possible and never bring too many clothes. As I always tell people, pack half as much as you think you'll need and it'll be twice as much as you you'll actually need.

If we're celebrating something special, traveling with friends, a more upscale cruise, or one where more guys will be wearing suits (like TA cruises), then I usually take a suit. But when going to Europe, usually just a jacket.

And I'll be the first to admit I do not like to wear a suit - wore them for many years - don't want to do it on vacation.

Funny thing was, on our 4 cruises in Europe, for the most part, the Americans always seem overdressed compared to the Europeans. At least that was our experience.

But it is interesting on some cruises you'll see alot of suits while on others you see much less. Found less on our Alaskan cruise, for example. Longer cruises usually seem to have alot more.